Innoslab Amplifiers

Abstract

The Innoslab amplifier comprises a diode-laser partially end-pumped thin slab crystal and a folded single-pass optical amplification path. While this configuration differs in many respects from other slab amplifiers, it shares characteristics with partially end-pumped rod amplifiers. It combines outstanding thermal management, efficiency, and beam quality in the 100 W to 1 kW power range. In this paper, we review amplifiers for a wide range of operation regimes and laser materials.

Phase-stable, multi-µJ femtosecond pulses from a repetition-rate tunable Ti:Sa-oscillator-seeded Yb-fiber amplifier

“…The repetition rate of the 0.7-µJ, ~32-fs output pulses can be reduced from 74 MHz (fundamental repetition rate of the oscillator) by an integer factor of up to 4 without affecting the pulse parameters. In principle, the repetition rate can be further reduced at the same average power by stronger pulse stretching in the CPA [31] and the pulse duration can be further compressed with alternative, pulse-energy-scalable schemes [9][10][11][12][13][14]. For all repetition rates, an integrated phase noise of 60-mrad in-loop and 225-mrad out-of-loop was measured in a bandwidth from 2 mHz to 4 kHz.…”

“…The solid-core-fiberbased spectral broadening employed here is limited to around 1-µJ input pulse energy by self-focusing-induced damage in the fiber. This is, however, not a fundamental limitation in view of the recently demonstrated power scalable compression schemes in bulk [9,28] as well as in kagome fibers [14]. The beam profile and autocorrelation traces for the four repetition rates are shown in Fig.…”

“…Recently, Yb-based laser technology has rapidly progressed as a powerful competitor to the well-established Ti:Sa technology. The superior thermal properties of Yb-doped active media enable an improvement of several orders of magnitude in terms of average power [7][8][9][10][11]. To overcome the disadvantage of a significantly narrower gain bandwidth, several post-amplification nonlinear pulse compression techniques have been developed [9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

“…The superior thermal properties of Yb-doped active media enable an improvement of several orders of magnitude in terms of average power [7][8][9][10][11]. To overcome the disadvantage of a significantly narrower gain bandwidth, several post-amplification nonlinear pulse compression techniques have been developed [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Recently, from an Yb:YAG thin-disk oscillator followed by two nonlinear compression stages, pulses of 2.2 cycles with 6 W of average power at a repetition rate of 38 MHz and with a phase jitter of 270 mrad (out-of-loop phase noise integrated in the band between 1 Hz and 500 kHz) were demonstrated [10].…”

FULAS: high energy laser source for future lidar applications

“…This concept is ideal for high energy and high efficiency single mode power amplifiers [3]. The Nd:YAG slab crystal is end pumped from both sides by use of high power diode stacks and appropriate beam shaping optics as shown schematically in Fig.…”